Soulmates

Chapter 13: Fight

For the next few days, Tris struggles. Her body is sore, her security shattered, and her heart broken by guilt and grief. Four, Eric, and the infirmary staff keep an eye on her until the healing serum knits her body together. Because he has to give the prescribed suicide funeral speech, Eric plans for Tris to be held in the infirmary long enough to miss it. Four stays with her that afternoon to ensure she won’t have to hear the trite words about the “bravery” of Al’s act of cowardice.

When she’s released from the infirmary, Eric and Four have to turn over their guard dog duties to Christina. To her credit, the former Candor spent most of Tris’ convalescence in the infirmary waiting room, begging for updates on her friend’s condition. 

Chris and Will move beds around in the transfer dorm, making one big bed out of three bunks, and force Tris to sleep between them the first night she is out of the infirmary. Of the nine original transfer initiates, only four of them remain. Christina, Will, and Tris all understand that Molly has nothing to lose with her name on the bottom of the rankings and her friends gone.

Will and Christina eventually fall asleep, but Tris finds it impossible. With Molly safely snoring in her bunk, Tris slips down to the foot of the bed and escapes from her position between Will and Christina. She sneaks to the door, watching and listening for any indication that Molly is awake. Finding none, she slips out the door and down the hall.

A moment later, Four rushes down the hall toward her. “What happened?” he gasps.

Tris stares at the instructor, stunned. “Nothing,” she says.

“Why are you out of the dorm?” he asks.

“I can’t sleep,” Tris admits.

Anger washes over Four’s face. “Last time you went wandering when you couldn’t sleep, it didn’t end so well,” he reminds her.

Tris’ eyes narrow, and she glares up at the tall man. “Seeing as how Drew and Peter are in jail, Al is dead, and Molly is snoring away in the dorm, I didn’t think I had anything to worry about. I don’t have that many enemies, Four. And what are you doing up at this hour? Spying on me? I don’t need a damn babysitter,” she spits, pushing Four’s chest. “I am sick and tired of everybody watching me! Half of the people in this faction want to stop me from succeeding, and the other half don’t think I’m capable of it anyway! I don’t need protecting! I just need a fair chance to show everyone what I’m capable of!”

Four shakes his head. “What you really need is a good night’s sleep,” he says. “Then maybe you wouldn’t be wandering around the compound in the middle of the night spouting nonsense about how you don’t want to be protected even though, in your words, half the faction is against you.”

“Agh!” Tris yells. “I hate all of this! I hate sleeping in a room full of people! I hate public showers and communal meals! I hate feeling weak and guilty! I’m sick of crying! This whole place is a nightmare! I go to training and get chased by my worst fears in simulations. I go to bed and they show up in my dreams. I wake up and - surprise! - they’re my reality! I gave up on finding my soulmate and followed my heart like my mom told me to. Now I’m going to spend the rest of my life alone in this nightmare realm!”

At this point Tris is barely coherent to Four, but it’s obvious that she’s hysterical and at her wits’ end. At a loss for how to help her, Four picks her up and throws her over his shoulder. As he marches through the compound, Tris pounds on his back, wiggling and kicking to be put down. She comes dangerously close to kicking him in the crotch right as they arrive at Eric’s door. Four pounds on the door, praying that Eric will answer quickly.

Fortunately, he does, and Four puts the hysterical woman back on her feet before pushing her into the apartment.

“What happened?” Eric asks worriedly as he rubs the sleep from his eyes.

“He happened!” Tris says, pointing angrily at Four. “I wouldn’t stay where he put me, so my babysitter decided it was his turn to kidnap me!”

“She lost it!” Four says defensively. “I asked her why she was wandering around in the middle of the night and she just flipped out on me!”

The two bicker back and forth until Eric can’t take it anymore. “Enough!” he yells. “Four, go home and go to bed. No more watching the monitors. I swear you’re getting paranoid from lack of sleep.”

“But…” Four protests.

“No,” Eric says firmly. “Go home.”

"Fine!" Four snaps as he turns and walks out, slamming the door behind him.

Eric sighs as he looks at the seething woman in front of him. "Are you taking the guest room, or do you want to sleep in my bed?"

"Wait. What?" Tris asks.

"It's two in the morning," Eric says with a tinge of bitterness. "I was asleep. I'd like to be asleep again. You're welcome to join me, or if you'd like some space you can take my guest room.

"Oh, um, okay," says Tris, taken aback by Eric suddenly diffusing the argument she expected. "I, uh, I guess I'll take the guest room."

Eric points out the guest room, the bathroom, and the door to his room, where Tris stayed the night Edward was attacked. He bids her goodnight and walks away.

Tris is still dumbfounded. She walks into Eric's guest room and sits on the edge of the bed. She's alone, truly alone, and safe. The room is quiet. No one is watching her. She lays down, scooting to the head of the bed. The apartment is quiet.

xxxx

"Damn it, Tris! I thought you were dead!" an angry female voice rips Tris from her peaceful sleep.

"What?" Tris asks groggily. "Go away, I'm sleeping."

"That's what I said when she showed up at two AM," says another voice.

Tris groans.

"Was she sleepwalking?" asks the female voice, which Tris recognizes as Christina.

"Nope," says the male voice - Eric. "She was fighting with Four. He brought her here."

"And what did you do?" Christina asks. 

"I told them both to go to bed," Eric says, shrugging. "Final fear landscapes start in twenty minutes. You should both get going, and so should I."